Half of the 750 Occupy Wall Street protesters arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge in a controversial mass arrest operation have had offers to have their cases dismissed.
Lawyers for the protesters, who are seeking a dismissal of all cases of disorderly conduct, said they had not yet spoken with those charged about the offer and it was unclear whether they would accept it.
Martin Stolar, a defence lawyer, said he was wary of the deal, as it would become void if a protester was re-arrested within six months.
"That might put a chilling effect on further protest activities" Stolar told the New York Daily News.
The offer came after a meeting between civil rights lawyers from the National Lawyers Guild and prosecutors at Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance's office.
This type of conditional offer, of an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal, is typical of minor cases where those arrested have no previous convictions.
Stolar was critical of the DA's decision to dismiss only 340 of the 750 cases the police logged during the mass arrests of 700 on the Brooklyn Bridge on 30 September and others a week earlier at Union Square.
He said that prosecutors claimed they could dismiss cases in which desk appearance tickets were issued by police but not the cases in which police issued summonses, but that it was "totally arbritary" who got a summons and who got a desk appearance.
